He caught it before it hit his face, and shook his head at her. “What are you doing, Jerri?”
“I don’t want to do this. It’s boring. And it’s stupid.”
She was pouting like a brat, but he knew very well it was not her typical insolence behind this. She was terrified of becoming a mother. She felt unprepared and unworthy, and there was little he could do to change that.
“It might be boring, but you are going to need to know how to keep a baby clean.”
“Ugh! How hard can it be?”
“It’s not hard at all, but you do need to know what you’re doing. You know you’re going to be a mother soon.”
“I know. It’s all anybody talks about. Mother this. Baby that. Tedious. Wish I’d never told anyone.”
The hormones were making her twice as difficult to deal with as usual. He was understanding now how she’d mustered the nerve to steal the Audacity. She was even more of a loose cannon than usual. She’d never had much in the way of what might be described as impulse control and now she had even less.
She slumped down cross-legged on the floor. “I can’t do this, Atlas. Just say it. It’s what you’re thinking. Jerri’s too much of a mess to be a mom.”
“I am not thinking that at all.”
“Yes, you are. It’s written on your face.”
“Hello there.” Lord Sithren made an appearance without bothering to knock.
“Sorry,” Atlas said, turning to him and attempting to nudge the Dinavri aristocrat out of the room before Jerri said or did something regrettable. “This is very much not a good time.”
“Is time ever good? I always found it somewhat neutral. Anyway, I have news.” Sithren cheerfully ignored Atlas’s hints.
“What’s the news?” Jerri perked up.
“Good and bad news,” Sithren said. “Atlas, the bad news is that your family has been targeted by the Authority as retribution for your defection. The good news is we have managed to put them all on a private transporter.”
“They came for my family?” Atlas was immediately horrified and ashamed. Horrified the Authority had taken personal, familial revenge. Ashamed that he had not thought to warn them himself.
“Yes, not as kind and cuddly as they make themselves out to be, are they? Vicious little twerps,” Sithren observed. “At any rate you need not worry. They have entered the border of Dinavri space where Authority ships rarely dare tread, and they will be here soon.”
“You have been kinder and more generous than I could ever have imagined or hoped for,” Atlas said. “Thank you.”
Sithren looked immensely pleased. “Well, you did deliver us an intact Authority ship, which has allowed us to develop, well, let’s just say there’s been a quid for this pro quo and leave it at that.”
“I delivered you an Authority ship,” Jerri reminded them. “Also, fuck the Authority. Absolute wanking assholes.”
“Indeed,” Sithren agreed.
“I can’t wait to meet your family,” Jerri said, climbing to her feet with some difficulty.
Atlas smiled and extended an arm to her. “I am glad you will be able to meet them. And practically speaking, this is excellent news. My sisters are very practiced mothers. They can help you through any of the parts you find difficult, or as you typically put it, stupid.”
It was very exciting. And it was finally a distraction from the endless baby talk that made Jerri feel less like a person and more like a flesh-shaped infant containment unit. No less than thirteen hours after Sithren announced that Atlas’s family was to join them, they arrived at the very same dock where all this trouble had begun.
Jerri watched, tears in her eyes as Atlas was reunited with his family. There was a whole crowd of them coming down from the ship, at least thirty, or maybe more. A whole group of Kitari, more than she had ever dreamed she would see in one place. Old and young, big and small. Some of them too small to walk, still carried in their mothers’ arms. They let out a cheer as they spotted him and flooded toward him. Jerri had the presence of mind to stay back until the throng had calmed somewhat and Atlas looked for her, drawing her out of the shadows and into the gaze of his family.
“This is Jerri. My mate. The mother to my unborn child. Jerri, this is my father, Chronos and my mother, Tempest. And here are my sisters, Frozi, Akiz, Sindal, Willow, Mixx, and Debbie. Their mates are Kondor, Kochek…”
Jerri lost the ability to retain names almost immediately, but she was very pleased to meet the brood. Things hadn’t felt quite right for a long time, but they were starting to feel better now. There was an energy to Atlas’s family that reminded her of him. It made sense, they were all related, and all Kitari, but still. He made more sense in their context. It was clear how much they adored and admired him, and how good he was to them. She’d learned how he had been sending all his money to them while he was with the Authority, and that was why he’d had nothing in his quarters. Sithren had intimated similar arrangements had been made with the Dinavri too. Atlas was an alien with worlds on his shoulders; the fates of many hung in the balance of his actions. And still he’d somehow found it in himself to make her part of his world as well.